Latina Executives
Successful executives have advised Latinas entering the business world: “Be daring. And draw belief from role models in the industry.” Personal histories of Latina executives are available at a virtual summit organized by the Women’s Commission of the League of United Latin American Citizens. In addition to brief introductions about the organization itself, the video introduces five Latinas who have built successful professional careers in corporate America. The accomplishments of these Latinas are particularly notable because women are vastly underrepresented in C-level positions in corporate America. Each video presents a short autobiography and offers advice to “mujeres” (women) who aspire to similar careers.
Below you will find brief biographies of six Latina corporate executives who have made their marks in the corporate world. In all cases their success is based upon pursuing an education and hard, sustained effort in the business world. Typically, they also devoted themselves to activities and organizations intended to strengthen Hispanic communities. Many of the organizational and professional firsts they achieved reflect the fact that it was, and still is, unusual for Latinas to establish outstanding careers in prominent organizations.
Gabriela Franco Parcella
Gabriela Franco Parcella’s parents emigrated from Mexico and settled in El Paso, Texas, where she was born. Always an excellent student, she earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin (1991). Because the regulatory aspects of the accounting profession were of greatest interests to her, Parcella earned a law degree from Stanford University (1994) after which she worked as a tax attorney in San Francisco.
Parcella’s corporate career began in 1997 when she joined the legal team at Mellon Capital, a company specializing in investment and asset management services. By 2001 she was General Counsel (the top lawyer) representing the corporation. Soon, she was daring enough to risk her career by shifting from the legal field to executive leadership on the business side of the organization. In 2007, Parcella was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, a position she held for four years. Despite pursuing an uncommon career path into corporate leadership, in 2011 she was named Chairman, President & CEO of Mellon Capital.
Beginning in 2018, Parcella tried her hand as Executive Managing Partner of Merlone Geier Partners LP, a private real estate investment company, and as an independent director at Terreno Realty Corporation. Additionally, Parcella is a founder of the San Francisco Region Women’s Initiative Network and a member of the Stanford Law School Board of Visitors.
As a lifetime member of the Association of Latino Professionals for America, Parcella’s admirable career demonstrates how it is possible to combat the lack of diversity in her field by overcoming the confidence gap that is common among women and minorities. A video is available of Parcella speaking at the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals in Business (a world-renowned conference series dedicated to increasing the flow of capital toward social good) on the topic of investment that promotes social change. Parcella tells a more personal story of her life in a video of an award ceremony at her alma mater, including the importance of education preached by her parents.
Aminda Marqués González
Aminda Marqués González, born in New York to Cuban immigrant parents, grew up in South Florida. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism in 1986 from the University of Florida. After graduation, González began her career in journalism as an intern at the Miami Herald, a newspaper that has won many awards for its investigative reporting. This assignment was soon followed by positions as a metro reporter, assistant city editor, and deputy metro editor at the Herald. In 2002, she was hired as the Miami bureau chief for People magazine.
González returned to the Miami Herald in 2007 where she was a multimedia editor and Sunday/features editor. She was named managing editor in 2010, the paper’s first Hispanic editor and only the second woman in the position. Following promotions to executive editor and vice president for news, González was named president, editor, and publisher of the Miami Herald in 2019. While she was editor, the paper won two Pulitzer Prizes (an annual award administered by Columbia University for outstanding journalism) and was a finalist for the prize five times. Because the possibility of a book editor’s job intrigued her, González became Vice President and Executive Editor at book publisher Simon & Schuster in October of 2020. The reason for this career move was to help broaden the range of voices and stories it publishes and help expand into diverse and underrepresented markets.
González’s achievements have received frequent professional recognition, only a few of which are mentioned here. In 2012, she was named an Alumnae of Distinction by the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. In 2016, she received the Presidential Award of Impact from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and induction into its Hall of Fame in 2018. González serves on the boards of the Associated Press Media Editors and the Pulitzer Prize, where she became in 2019 the first Hispanic to serve as the Pulitzer board chair.
González was honored with the National Press Foundation’s Benjamin C. Bradlee Editor of the Year Award in 2019. (Bradlee was the iconic editor of the Washington Post during the investigation of the Watergate break in while Richard Nixon was President of the U.S.) Her acceptance speech at the award ceremony is captured on video (midway through the article).
Maria Martinez
Maria Martinez was raised in Puerto Rico by her widowed mother. She was urged to study engineering by a high school teacher who recognized her ability in mathematics. Martinez earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Puerto Rico and a master’s degree in computer engineering from Ohio State University. This was a bold career choice given the fact that Latinas held less than two percent of computing-profession positions at the time.
Martinez’s career in business began with leadership positions at AT&T, Motorola, and Embrace Networks, a start-up technology company. As CEO Martinez led the development of technical strategy, launched its first software platform, and developed its customer base. For the next six years she was Microsoft corporation’s Vice President of Communications and Vice President of Worldwide Services business. Martinez oversaw customer support for all products and was responsible for a significant increase in Microsoft’s customer satisfaction rating.
Beginning in 2010, Martinez was President of Customer Success Group and Success Cloud at Salesforce.com, an American cloud-based software company. She was responsible for keeping happy the company’s more than 100,000 customers across the globe.
Martinez was hired in 2018 into the new position of Executive Vice President (EVP) and Chief Customer Experience Officer at Cisco Systems, Inc. (designs, manufactures and sells products for transporting data, voice, and video). Customer success has never been more important for technology companies. Cisco Systems was determined to provide services that ensured its customers greater business outcomes with its technology. In 2022, she served as EVP and Chief Operating Officer at Cisco. Details of her personal and professional life are available in a video, a portion of which focuses on the significance of mentoring by her teachers.
Martinez serves on the Board of Directors for McKesson (an American company distributing pharmaceuticals and providing health information technology, medical supplies, and care management tools) and for the Board of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation.
Beatriz Perez
Beatriz Perez was raised in Washington, D.C., by her Cuban-born mother who taught her how to combine education and volunteerism into a career. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from the University of Maryland. She still enjoys preparing Cuban dishes for her family.
Perez began her career at the Coca-Cola Company in 1996 as an Associate Brand Manager before becoming Chief Marketing Officer for Coca-Cola North America. In that position she built the company’s brands by developing partnerships with American Idol, NASCAR, the NBA. and The Oscars, and by working with celebrities like Ryan Seacrest and LeBron James.
Perez was appointed the company’s first Chief Sustainability Officer in 2011. In a video she describes how she led a global effort to reduce the company’s environmental impact by introducing sustainability (meeting our present needs without limiting the ability of future generations to meet their own needs) into its operations. Perez is supervising efforts to decrease the company’s carbon footprint by 25 percent, improve collection of used bottles for recycling, and use at least 50 percent recycled material in its packaging.
In 2017, Perez became the company’s Senior Vice President and Chief Communications, Public Affairs, Sustainability and Marketing Assets Officer. In this role she supports brands, communities, consumers, and partners worldwide. Perez continues to oversee the company’s sports and entertainment assets, including iconic partnerships with the Olympics, Special Olympics, and FIFA (an international governing body for soccer).
Perez is a strong advocate for community service. She was named Chair of The Coca-Cola Foundation to direct the company’s philanthropic efforts. She serves on several boards of organizations that help to strengthen the Hispanic community. For example, she serves on the Board of Directors of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund that provides scholarships and support services to Latino students. Perez was elected to the Board of Directors of Primerica (a U.S. marketing company that sells insurance and financial services), and the Board of W.W. Grainger (an American industrial supply company). Perez was the recipient of PRvoke Media’s 2021 SABRE award for excellence in stakeholder engagement, reputation management, and relationship building.
Sonia Dulá
Born in Mexico and raised in Brazil, Sonia Dulá is truly a citizen of the world. She also lived in Peru, Bolivia, Italy, England, and Spain. She learned to speak five languages. Dulá earned a Bachelor degree in Economics, Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude, from Harvard University (1982), and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University (1986).
Following school, Dulá worked for nine years in investment banking at Goldman Sachs (an American multinational investment bank and financial services company). There she rose to leadership positions by managing transfers of public companies to private ownership in Spain, Italy, and Mexico. After Goldman Sachs, Dulá led Hispanic media companies, first as CEO of Telemundo Studios México, and later as co-founder of two internet companies, Internet Group of Brazil, and Obsidian (the first online portal for Latin American women that published information of interest on a specially designed website). From 2002 to 2006, Dulá served as CEO of Grupo Latino de Radio, a company with more than 500 owned and operated radio stations in Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market.
Dulá’s career turned to investing and wealth management. At Merrill Lynch (an American investment, wealth management, and financial services company), she led the Latin America Wealth Management Division and headed the Corporate and Investment Banking for Latin America. Following Bank of America’s (BOA) purchase of Merrill, she ran all three divisions of the bank’s Latin America business: Corporate, Investment Bank, and Wealth Management. When Dulá left BOA in 2018, she held the position of Vice Chairman of the Global Corporate and Investment Banking Division.
In 2018, Dulá completed the Harvard and IESE Business Schools’ (the University of Navarra in Barcelona, Spain) program, “Value Creation Through Effective Boards.” She then focused her career serving on corporate boards. In 2019, Dulá was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Hemisphere Media Group. Huntsman Corporation (an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of chemical products) announced her appointment to its Board of Directors in 2020. Because of her deep knowledge of the banking business and extensive experience in key markets such as Mexico, South America and Spain, in 2023 Dulá was elected to the Board of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain that does business throughout the Sanish speaking world). Dulá also served as a director on the Board of The Council of the Americas (an international business organization committed to economic and social development, open markets, the rule of law, and democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere). In a brief video, Dulá describes the personal qualities and managerial style that made her success possible.
Priscilla Almodovar
Born to Puerto Rican parents in 1967, Almodovar grew up in Sunset Park, Brooklyn and Freeport, Long Island. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics from Hofstra University and her Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law. She is married to Eric Dinallo, New York State’s superintendent of insurance from 2007 to 2010. They have two children.
Upon receiving her J.D., Almodovar began a career lasting more than 30 years of leadership in finance, real estate, and banking. Starting in 1990, she joined the international law firm White & Case LLP, serving as a corporate finance partner from 1998 until 2004. She took a leave from White & Case, LLP to pursue an opportunity in public service as Deputy Policy Director of New York State’s Housing and Health Care agency from 2005 to 2006. During this time Almodovar worked on Eliot Spitzer’s successful New York gubernatorial campaign. In this position she was assigned to work on housing and health care, issues to which she devoted the remainder of her career.
Almodovar took the helm of the of New York State’s Housing Finance Agency and the State of New York Mortgage Agency in 2007. During her two year tenure, she spearheaded the creation of economically- and racially-mixed housing.
For nearly a decade beginning in 2010, Almodovar was a managing director at JPMorgan Chase. Until 2017, she led Community Development Banking. This position was followed by Co-Head of Real Estate Banking, leading the firm’s business with national and regional real estate developers, investors, owners, and investment funds.
ship in finance, real estate, and banking. Starting in 1990, she joined the international law firm White & Case LLP, serving as a corporate finance partner from 1998 until 2004. She took a leave from White & Case, LLP to pursue an opportunity in public service as Deputy Policy Director of New York State’s Housing and Health Care agency from 2005 to 2006. During this time Almodovar worked on Eliot Spitzer’s successful New York gubernatorial campaign. In this position she was assigned to work on housing and health care, issues to which she devoted the remainder of her career.
Almodovar joined Enterprise Community Partners as its president and CEO in 2019, a nonprofit organization created to increase the supply of affordable housing. Enterprise supports community development organizations and invests billions to improve housing and to advance housing policy at every level of government. In this vein, Almodovar was appointed to the U.S. Energy Advisory Board in 2021 to address the energy transition of underserved communities.
In 2022, Almodovar became the first woman to lead the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), a government-sponsored mortgage provider that finances millions of home purchases. At the time she was the only Latina currently serving as the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. She added company president to her title in 2024. It has been her goal to make home ownership accessible to everyone.
Apart from her responsibilities at Fannie Mae, Almodovar served on various corporate boards. For example, since 2018 she has served as trustee of the New York Road Runners Club, chairing the Audit Committee. In 2020 she was appointed trustee of Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital LLC, a private commercial and multifamily mortgage banking company. She became a board member at Realty Income (NYSE: O) in 2021, an S&P 500 company that partners with the world’s leading firms in property investments. Almodovar was appointed to the U.S. Energy Advisory Board in 2021 to address the energy transition of underserved communities.
Almodovar has received recognition for her many accomplishments. For example, she was named one of the most influential women in the real estate industry by Affordable Housing Finance Magazine in 2016. In 2017, Fortune named her one of the “50 Most Powerful Latinas.” In 2024 alone she was designated as one of Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, and she was listed as one of the most influential people in markets by Dow Jones’ MarketWatch.
In a thorough, videotaped interview Almodovar discusses her career and many issues related to Hispanic’s experience in private and professional life in the U.S.